13. Leprechauns Rule!

Chapter 13 Leprechauns Rule! The next day was St. Patrick's Day. It was a cool, sunny morning. Bradley and Brian carried their leprechaun to the town hall lawn. Pal walked along next to them. Lucy and Nate were waiting. "There must be a million leprechauns here!" Nate said. The kids looked around. Leprechauns stood everywhere. They had all started out looking exactly the same. Now they were all different. The leprechauns were all dressed or decorated or painted. There were rock stars, sports figures, and nurses. Bradley saw a Mickey Mouse and an

第13章小矮妖统治！第二天是圣。 帕特里克节。这是一个凉爽、阳光明媚的早晨。 布拉德利和布莱恩抱着他们的小妖精来到市政厅的草坪上。 帕尔走在他们旁边。 露西和内特在等着。 “这里一定有一百万个小矮妖！”内特说。 孩子们环顾四周。到处都站着小妖精。 他们一开始看起来都一模一样。 现在他们都不一样了。 小矮妖们都打扮得漂漂亮亮的。 有摇滚明星、体育明星和护士。 布拉德利看到了一只米老鼠和一只

Elvis. He waved to Josephine and her fairy princess. He saw Officer Fallon holding the police leprechaun. Ben and Ralphie came over to say hi. "What's yours supposed to be, anyway?" Ralphie asked. "A giant hamster?" "It's our dog, Pal," Bradley explained. "I wonder who will win first prize," Ralphie said. Brian grinned. "Us," he said. "We have the only talking leprechaun." They all laughed. "At least Lucky and Officer Fallon were cool about getting busted like that," Ralphie said. "They admitted how they tricked us." "Which one of you guys did that funny voice yesterday?" Bradley asked. "Not me!" Ben and Ralphie said at the same time. "We had cookies in our mouths!" Ralphie said.

猫王。他向约瑟芬和她的仙女公主挥手。 他看见法伦警官手里拿着警察小精灵。 本和拉尔菲过来打个招呼。 “你的名字应该是什么？”拉尔夫问道。 “一只大仓鼠？”“这是我们的狗，帕尔，”布拉德利解释道。 “我想知道谁会赢得头奖，”拉尔菲说。 布莱恩笑了。“我们，”他说。 “我们只有一个会说话的小妖精。” 他们都笑了。拉尔菲说：“至少拉奇和法伦警官对被抓这件事很冷静。” “他们承认他们是如何欺骗我们的。” “你们谁昨天发出了那个滑稽的声音？”布拉德利问。 “不是我!”本和拉尔菲同时说。 “我们嘴里含着饼干！”拉尔夫说。

"It wasn't me, either," Nate said. "I was trying not to sneeze." "I certainly didn't do it," Lucy said. She looked at Bradley and Brian. "I thought it was one of you two." Brian shook his head. "Not guilty," he said. "And it wasn't Bradley, either. He was squished right next to me." "So who was it?" Nate asked. "We all heard somebody say, 'Please let us out of the trash can,' right?" "Gee, maybe it was your leprechaun," Ben said. He put his hand on the leprechaun dressed as Pal. The six kids stared at the statue. Just then the mayor of Green Lawn stepped out of the town hall. The crowd cheered and the mayor waved. He walked among the leprechauns, chatting with people and patting kids on the head. His assistant walked with him, taking notes on a clipboard. The mayor stopped in front of the leprechaun dressed as a dog.

“也不是我，”内特说。 “我试着不打喷嚏。” “当然不是我干的。”露茜说。 她看着布拉德利和布莱恩。 “我还以为是你们俩中的一个呢。” 布莱恩摇了摇头。“无罪，”他说。 而且也不是布拉德利。 他就在我旁边被压扁了。” “那是谁呢？”内特问道。 “我们都听到有人说，‘请把我们从垃圾桶里放出来，’对吧？”“哎呀，也许是你的小妖精，”本说。 他把手放在打扮成帕尔的小妖精身上。 六个孩子盯着雕像看。 就在这时，格林草坪的市长走出了市政厅。 人群欢呼起来，市长挥手致意。 他走在小矮妖中间，和人们聊天，拍拍孩子们的头。 他的助手和他一起走着，在剪贴板上做着笔记。 市长在打扮成狗的小妖精面前停了下来。

"And what have we here?" the mayor asked. "A dog leprechaun?" "Yes, sir," Bradley said. "It's a basset hound. It's supposed to look like our dog, Pal." Pal woofed at the mayor. "Oh, I see," said the mayor. "Very cute. Very clever." He whispered something to his assistant. She scribbled a note. The mayor walked away. Soon the mayor had examined all the leprechauns. He and his assistant walked up the town hall steps. A microphone was waiting for him. "Good morning, and happy St. Patrick's Day!" the mayor said. "I'm happy to see that so many of you believe in leprechauns! This is the biggest turnout I've ever seen!" More clapping and whistling. The mayor took the clipboard from his assistant. "It seems we have a tie this year!" he said. "We have two winners!"

“我们这儿有什么？”市长问。 “一只小矮妖狗？”“是的，先生，”布拉德利说。 “这是一只巴吉特猎犬。它应该看起来像我们的狗，伙计。” 帕尔向市长献殷勤。“哦，我明白了，”市长说。 “非常可爱。非常聪明。”他对助手耳语了几句。 她草草写了一张纸条。市长走开了。 不久，市长检查了所有的小矮妖。 他和助手走上市政厅的台阶。 麦克风在等着他。 “早上好，圣。 帕特里克节！”市长说。 “我很高兴看到你们这么多人相信小矮妖的存在！”这是我见过的人数最多的一次！”更多的掌声和口哨声。 市长从他的助手手中接过剪贴板。 “看来我们今年打成平手了！”他说。 “我们有两个赢家！”

Everybody looked at one another's leprechauns. "Our first winner is Fairy-Princess Leprechaun!" he yelled. "Will its owner please come up here?" Josephine O'Leary and her whole family ran up the steps and stood by the mayor. Ben and Ralphie carried the fairy-princess statue. The mayor placed a big green ribbon around the leprechaun's neck. Everybody cheered. Lucky lifted Josephine up onto his shoulders. "And our second winner is Basset Hound Leprechaun!" the mayor went on. "Where are its owners?" Bradley grabbed the leprechaun. He led Brian, Nate, Lucy, and Pal up to join the mayor. The mayor dropped a ribbon around the leprechaun's shoulders. Bradley grinned and hugged his leprechaun. The crowd cheered. Then Bradley heard a small voice in his ear. "Leprechauns rule!" it said.

每个人都看着彼此的小矮妖。 “我们的第一个获胜者是妖精公主！”他喊道。 “请它的主人上来一下好吗？”约瑟芬·奥利里和她的全家跑上台阶，站在市长身边。 本和拉尔菲带着仙女公主雕像。 市长在小妖精的脖子上系上一条绿色的大丝带。 每个人都欢呼起来。拉奇把约瑟芬抬到他的肩膀上。 “第二名获胜者是巴吉特猎犬小矮妖！” “它的主人在哪里？”布拉德利抓住了小妖精。 他领着布莱恩、内特、露西和帕尔走上前去加入市长的行列。 市长在小妖精的肩膀上放下了一条丝带。 布拉德利咧嘴一笑，拥抱了他的小妖精。 人群欢呼起来。接着，布拉德利听到耳边传来一个细小的声音。 “小矮妖统治！”

Bradley stared at the leprechaun. The leprechaun stared back. Maybe it was the sun in his eyes, but Bradley could have sworn the leprechaun was winking.

布拉德利盯着小妖精。 小矮妖也瞪了他一眼。 也许是他眼睛里的阳光，但布拉德利可以发誓小矮妖在眨眼。